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techbeck 4,028

Microsoft appears to be holding off on introducing its Office for iOS and Android versions. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft has decided to introduce its mobile Office variants later than originally planned.The Verge originally revealed Office for iOS in November, with an excepted release early this year. Foley claims a roadmap for the future of Office includes release dates for Android and iOS in October 2014

The software giant is currently working on "Metro-style" versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote that will likely debut later this year. The leaked roadmap reportedly includes references to a new Office for Mac release in April 2014 alongside an Office RT and Office for Windows Phone refresh. If the dates are accurate then it's likely that Microsoft pushed back the planned release of its Office for iOS software to ensure full touch-friendly versions of its Windows clients were available.

Office for iOS is expected to debut as part of an Office 365 subscription, allowing users to view documents at no cost. A subscription will be required for editing capabilities. The planned release date change could also be related to Microsoft's tangles with Apple over revenue cuts. Microsoft recently released a SkyDrive iOS update, but the company was unable to build in support for buying additional storage without providing 30 percent of that revenue to Apple. The same rules would apply for an Office for iOS version.